She's left with a pretty nice cleaver, then. The wooden handle is still pretty beat up.

The wind has been picking up for a bit. It looks like a huge dust storm is blowing in soon- The sky is darkening with the wall of dust rolling in from the Badlands.

Right, time to put some wards up, then.  She'll decamp to one of the outbuildings.  It's easier to ward small areas.

There's someone else running for cover, seeing the oncoming storm. Better dressed than the most unfortunate souls out here, dedicated desert gear and a big mask. They see her, and seem to mentally shrug and start waiting for her to be out of sight.

She also gives a shrug as she sets up to make some scales for the knife, since she's going to be stuck here anyway.  "Nice weather we're having, huh?

"This place yours?"

"Yeah, this looks like a big one," the guy says. "I can find somewhere else if you're..." He trails off and shrugs. Taps his goggles. "Geared for it, see."

"Eh, I'll hold up fine; had to ride out a days-long sandstorm in a ripped tent with a camel, during my misspent and adventurous youth.  I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion, but even without my tricks I'd survive, y'know?"

"...Sure, head."

A camel? Who even has one of those outsize of fuckin' zoos these days?

"Let's just batten down before the grit gets everywhere..." He glances at the oncoming dust and heads inside the sturdyish-looking outbuilding.

Hmm de hmm, de doo bee doo, she's totally not doing magic while she battens down the hatches, no siree...

The guy finds a corner to lurk in. He takes out little bit of weed, rolls it into a small blunt and lights it up, just a couple puffs.

He doesn't seem the sociable type. A little curious, but also very wary and just kind of an introvert. And not inclined to explain why he's here.

She'll busy herself with repairing the scales, as best she can given that she can hardly do blatant magic right now.

"You must have steady employment.  What sort of things do you do for a living?"

"Much as anyone does. This and that, here and there. In the slums, usually, up near Palisade. Buying and selling, you can get a lot done doing that if you're careful. You?"

"I appear to be repairing knives, since most of my management skillset is quite useless when I've nothing to manage."

"Lost your crew? You'll stand back up if you've got it." Shrug.

"More like my crew's lost me, though you wouldn't believe the story if I told you; still, I can only hope you're right about that."

"You'll be fine. I can hear the sun in your voice. Mm. There's more mystery to the world than some think. Crazy shit going down. Lies, rumors, mistakes, and reality. Who's to say, sometimes."

The sand-blasting of everything outside has gotten fairly loud now. Loud wind and a rattling as specks hit the structure.

"...This place is sturdier than I remember."

"Must be one of those mysteries you were talking about, huh?"  There's a bit of levity to her voice.  "What's the craziest thing you've seen?"

He smirks. "Crazy unexplainable rather than crazy fucked-up, I imagine. So imagine this- I'm checking out this alley, out of the way place, for completely legitimate and mundane reasons-" He pauses for a beat. "-And I hear fighting. A scuffle, at least two people running. Figure I should intervene, so I hurry over. Maybe not the wisest choice, but it came to nothing because as I turn the corner- Nothing. Place is quiet and empty. There's footsteps in the gunk, but nowhere they could have gone- Three sheer walls, no doors, no manholes in the ground. Vanished." He puffs the blunt. "The boring explanation would be a reasonably well-hidden exit, or me going crazy. But personally? I bet one or both of 'em was a mutant. Gecko pads for climbing walls. They could've gone over it when they heard me coming."

"Ah, yes, totally legitimate reasons.  Definitely."  She nods.  "Depending on the wall, I bet there's people who could've climbed it when you were about to catch them necking even without augs.

"Surprised you're enough of a charitable sort; I saw someone just bleeding out on a couch with nobody helping."

"Takes all kinds, head. Triumphs, tribulations, jobs, kids, love, parties, drugs, death, hopes and dreams. The wheel turns. Cinci grinds on. Cynically speaking, a certain reputation makes some things easier, less hassle. Makes other things more hasslesome, whatever. And there's no more real a test of your med-techie chops than a guy bleeding out in a filthy alley, and besides that grateful chicks put out easy. Those the lies I tell myself sometimes. But I find that what goes around tends to come around. Then again, weed always did turn me into a sentimental bastard."

"What goes around comes around indeed, and the wheel of fate keeps on turning."

She hums softly.  "People aren't nice to the whores 'round here, I gather."

He snorts. "Yeah, it's real bad. The violence inherent in the system and all."

"The what.  Or, no, I understood you, I think, but -

"How dare they.

"That's not sex work anymore, it's rape, enforced by those in power, plain and simple!  A profession you can't leave...that is then repaid with violence by those whose utmost duty is to protect?  How dare they!  I've never been in that line of work myself, but at least the brothels back home let you quit!"

"Ha. You must be European then? I hear it's nice there. Not that I disagree."

"I'm not from around here, certainly.  Where I was from...

"It had its good parts, and its bad parts, like any place does - I'm sure you'd say it was cripplingly poor, for one - but while I can most definitely say there were some policies I disagreed with, it was, at least, from the top on down, trying.  'In times of lean, you will be fed; in times of wealth, you will feed others'.  That was one of the first laws my training as an adjudicator had me memorizing, right along with 'Loyalty is freedom from hunger, hostility, and hopelessness'.  That's not to say that - political realities didn't leave some asshats where they should not have been, or that I necessarily believed that this was the truth of things - but I was entrusted with the power and right to change that, delegated to me two steps from the highest power we had.  And I wasn't, I think, alone in trying.

"I've honestly lived rather a privileged life, I think.  This is going to be - an adjustment."

"It's pretty hard to believe that you used to be important, gotta be honest? That there's any place on the globe that's not dominated by avarice. Maybe you were a big fish in a tiny pond. Cinci's an ocean, mon. And yeah, the people at the top are not even really trying anymore. The thin veneer of civility, peeled back to reveal the cruel animal within. And even if you want to help, to get power, to keep power, you have to play the same game. The resource wars didn't help, of course."

He pulls on the joint again.